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Melgunov kurhan

Image - Some artifacts for the Scythian burial mound known as the Melgunov kurhan or Lyta Mohyla.

Melgunov kurhan [Мельгуновький курган; Melhunovskyi kurhan]. An early 6th-century BC royal Scythian burial mound, found near the village of Kucherivka, now in Znamianka raion, Kirovohrad oblast. It takes its name from Aleksei Melgunov, governor of New Russia gubernia, who commissioned the excavation of the site in 1763. Known also as Lyta Mohyla, this site contained the remains of a Scythian chieftain and his armor (bronze arrowheads, sword, sheath), a gold crown, and silver adornments. Assyrian and Persian designs on some of the artifacts testify to Scythian contacts with the Middle East. The collection is housed in the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 3 (1993).]



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